Online retailers will lose $13.5 million in 2001 because of poor customer service.
Some 69.4% of online transactions in 2001 were abandoned, said a new report by market analysts Datamonitor. Customers said they didn’t complete transactions because of slow processing speed of their orders, concerns over security and high shipping and handling costs.
Among the abandoned online transactions, almost 10% of customers said the reason was the retailer failed to offer a method to answer questions while they shopped.
Despite the obvious need for improvements, more transactions are completed online this year than last, said Datamonitor. Last year, only 25.4% were completed.
Reasons for the improvement include the proliferation of personalized marketing messages. Retailers are second only to financial services firms in using online personalization technologies, said Datamonitor.
Retailers have also gotten better at streamlining product offerings. They are “resisting the urge to sell anything and everything over the Internet,” said the firm. Instead, they are focusing on products that have the best chance of being sold online, such as CDs and books, not big-ticket items such as automobiles.
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